Twenty minutes of morning mindfulness

In my quest to incorporate mindfulness into my life and with it a little bit of peace and serenity – I’ve been practising twenty minutes of mindfulness meditation each morning since the beginning of the year. I wasn’t sure how long it would take to make an impact but promised myself that I would persevere. As someone who has enjoyed meditation previously and yoga classes (especially the part at the end where you stretch and relax!) I am no stranger to calming the mind – however making the time to do it daily can be difficult – life is busy.

Each morning (well most mornings) I have sat in the quiet and tried to empty my mind, sometimes focusing on an object and nothing else for twenty minutes. This isn’t an easy thing to accomplish (I’m still getting there) – so if you are just starting with mindfulness – give it time.

So, what have I found so far? It’s a very relaxing way to start the day, I feel more focused and grounded. I also feel calmer and able to deal with difficult situations in life more effectively. Overall I’m feeling very positive about what I think is a definite lifestyle enhancement! Last week I didn’t have the chance to do it for two days running and I did notice a difference at how I was feeling over those days – not quite as grounded as before. I also really missed the precious twenty minutes in the morning that were just for me!

Morning (Photo credit: DeusXFlorida)

Practising mindfulness for twenty minutes a day won’t change your life overnight but it can certainly give you the tools for a calmer state of mind – if you are ready to apply yourself and make time to be mindful.

I’m thinking of increasing my mindfulness practice over time and I’m really enjoying using it in the morning. There is something wonderful about meditating in the morning when the world is still and feels like it hasn’t quite woken up yet. If you are a busy bee like me this would be a stark contract to the rest of your day – and that’s the beauty of it – twenty minutes of perfect peace. Lovely.

I found a great blog post recently on mindfulness practice techniques that I’d like to share. Happy meditating!